


The Lion and the House Cat

by Evanings, MusicPrincess655



Series: Soulmate AU [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Getting Together, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-18 20:40:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5942416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evanings/pseuds/Evanings, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicPrincess655/pseuds/MusicPrincess655
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The lion on Yaku Morisuke's wrist definitely doesn't apply to a certain tall, obnoxious first year. Nope. Not at all. No, Kuroo, he does NOT have a crush!</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Lion and the House Cat

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this in honor of reaching 100 followers on tumblr, let’s have some YakuLev because the angst possibilities are endless! Also, I suffered this week, so now Yaku gets to suffer.  
> Soulmate AU where you have a symbol somewhere on your body that represents your soulmate. Your soulmate has a partner mark that, when held next to your mark, always matches even if not exactly the same.

Yaku Morisuke had had a marking of a lion on his wrist since he could remember. When he was a little boy, his mother told him,

“Mori-kun, this is your soulmate mark. Someday, you’ll meet someone with a mark that matches your’s.”

“So someday I’m going to meet someone else with a lion on their wrist?” Morisuke, at age four, had asked.

“Well, probably not,” his mother admitted. “Soulmate marks are rarely exactly the same, but they complement each other. This mark on your wrist represents your soulmate, and they’ll have a mark that represents you.”

Morisuke had thought, at the time, that he wouldn’t mind if his soulmate had a lion to represent him. After all, lions were big and strong, called kings of the jungle.

“Mommy, my lion has a mane,” Morisuke told her, all childish seriousness. “That means he’s a boy, right?”

“Maybe,” his mother replied. “Soulmate marks aren’t always gendered, and sometimes they don’t match the gender of your soulmate. You’ll just have to wait and see when you meet them.”

“I hope they’re a boy,” Morisuke said assertively, making his mother laugh. “Girls are so much harder to get along with.”

From then on, whenever Morisuke made a new friend, he would eagerly look for their soulmate mark, hoping to see a lion to match his own. He soon found that, although he looked just as eagerly at the girls as the boys, he was very much disinterested in the girls. He could be friends with them, but he always wanted to be with the boys.

People had soulmate marks in all sorts of places. Morisuke’s was on his wrist, but his best friend’s was on his shoulder. Some people had them on their knees, ankles, thighs, hips, necks…they could be almost anywhere. Morisuke’s teacher explained to them that as they grew older, they would find that their mark would be in a meaningful place for them and their soulmate, and that almost all soulmate pairs had their markings in the same place.

After that, Morisuke started paying more attention to people’s wrists, However, as he grew older, he began to realize that finding his soulmate probably wouldn’t be that simple. There were over seven billion people in the world, it was a little naïve to assume he would find his soulmate so quickly or easily. Most people didn’t find their soulmates until high school or later, and some didn’t find them until very late in life.

Morisuke didn’t exactly stop looking, but he stopped getting excited every time he met someone new, hoping that this time, it was his soulmate. He continued to prefer the company of boys to girls, even into high school, and was convinced that his soulmate was probably a boy. It didn’t really bother him that most soulmate pairs were between a boy and a girl.

He was the libero of his volleyball team, and by his third year, most of his teammates affectionately referred to him as the team mom, while being very careful to say nothing of his height.

That is, of course, until a tall half-Russian joined the team part of the way through Morisuke’s final year. His name was Haiba Lev, and Morisuke couldn’t _stand_ him. He was cocky, despite having the worst receive Morisuke had ever seen, even worse that Karasuno’s short number 10. He proclaimed himself the ace and was always all over Kenma, begging for tosses he could barely hit. He was loud and obnoxious, but worst of all, he seemed to have no brain-to-mouth filter, always calling Morisuke short. The kid had to die.

Morisuke had just finished venting all of this to Kuroo while on their lunch break, his bento forgotten in his lap, face red and panting from shouting. Kuroo, as he usually did, just kept his vaguely amused expression in place.

“It sounds like you have a crush on our newest first year, Yaku,” Kuroo grinned that grin that made most of the school think he was a playboy. Morisuke spluttered.

“I do _not_ ,” he snapped. “What the hell makes you think I even _tolerate_ having him around?”

“You always make him stay after practice.”

“That’s because he sucks at receives! Do you want to stay late with him instead, _captain_?”

“You’re not going to admit it, but you’re having fun complaining about him,” Kuroo continued as if Morisuke hadn’t spoken. “And you definitely think he’s pretty.”

Morisuke was about to respond with a biting remark when he felt his face flush. Because damn Kuroo fucking Tetsurou to hell, now he was thinking about how objectively pretty Lev was. Tall, long legs, silver hair, and green cat eyes that he must have inherited from his Russian side. Shit. Objectively speaking, Lev was beautiful, and while Morisuke hid it well, he had quite the weakness for beauty.

“Just because he’s objectively pretty does not mean I have a crush on him,” Morisuke bit out, but the effect was lost between the long pause and the redness of his cheeks. “As I mentioned earlier, I can’t stand him.”

He was busy telling himself that he did _not_ have a crush on a _first year_ for the rest of classes, all through practice while his body moved to receives without his mind using muscle memory. He was about to call to Lev after practice to stay for receive practice, when he noticed Lev draped over Kenma, whining for tosses. Kenma didn’t seem completely comfortable, but he also didn’t throw Lev off. Morisuke felt a pang in his chest at the sight, but he ignored it in favor of yelling out,

“Lev, leave Kenma alone, you have to stay for receive practice anyway.”

“Gah! Yaku-san!”

“What’s with the gah?” Morisuke asked sharply. This should be more evidence that he didn’t have a crush on Lev. After all, Lev didn’t seem to enjoy spending his time with Morisuke. That was probably for the best anyway. Lev was just a first year, and Morisuke was about to graduate.

Despite all the shouts Morisuke threw at Lev, he had to admit that Lev was getting better at receives, slowly. Morisuke didn’t really mean to be as harsh on Lev as he was. It was just that sometimes, Lev would say something so blatantly offensive that Morisuke had to kick him and shout at him.

Lev dove for the next ball Morisuke sent to him, his right hand at the wrong angle, catching the ball wrong and bending his wrist back. He tried to catch himself with his left hand, but he ended up sliding along the floor, clutching his right wrist to his chest.

“Lev!” Morisuke gasped, running to get to him. “Where does it hurt?”

He gently peeled Lev’s fingers away from his wrist. Lev’s eyes were glassy, but he hadn’t let any tears fall yet. Morisuke moved his fingers gently over Lev’s wrist, feeling for swelling, when he noticed a mark on Lev’s wrist. A soulmate mark. A small, light colored cat with wide, piercing eyes.

 _It looks just like Kenma_ , Morisuke thought, staring at it.

“Just the inside, under my thumb,” Lev said, breaking into his trance. Morisuke shook his head.

“Ice it when you get home, and wear a brace for the next few days,” Morisuke told him, ducking his head to hide the blush that was probably spreading across his face.

“But I won’t be able to spike if I wear a brace,” Lev whined.

“Ignoring an injury is how you make it worse!” Morisuke snapped. “Just be patient with it!”

Lev jerked back at the rise in volume, but nodded. He walked Morisuke part of the way home, before splitting off to walk to his own home. Morisuke watched him walk for a bit before shaking his head and continuing. He had too many thoughts bouncing around in his head.

Lev’s soulmate mark was a cat that looked like Kenma. It was on the wrist of the arm he used for spiking Kenma’s tosses. Lev was always hanging onto Kenma, and Kenma never seemed to push him away.

Morisuke had never seen Kenma’s soulmate mark, had even thought that maybe Kenma didn’t have one. Morisuke thought he might be aromantic and asexual. He probably just had it in a more hidden place.

Kenma and Lev were probably soulmates. Morisuke told himself that it didn’t bother him. After all, he was about to graduate. Besides, Kenma was a lot nicer to Lev than Morisuke was. Kenma never kicked Lev, yelled at him, and Kenma sent him tosses so he could spike. All Morisuke did was yell and make him practice his receives. Lev was better off with Kenma. Morisuke didn’t care either way.

Morisuke looked down at his wrist. The lion hadn’t changed over the years, but Morisuke had stopped holding out the hope that his soulmate would have a matching lion. After all, Morisuke wasn’t very brave, or bold. He wasn’t even very big. Maybe he would be a house cat, but not a lion.

Kuroo couldn’t resist teasing him the next day.

“I saw Lev wearing a wrist brace earlier, did you try to confess to him and break his arm when he said yes?” Kuroo grinned.

“Good thing the idiot is actually wearing the brace,” Morisuke muttered under his breath. “No, he had a shitty receive last night, as usual, and he twisted his wrist. I told him to keep a brace on it for a few days. And I’m not confessing to him,” he added as Kuroo opened his mouth. “I’m probably not his soulmate. And even if I was…we graduate in a few months, Kuroo. What could I possibly offer him in a few months?”

“You know, he might want more than just a few months,” Kuroo said, surprisingly serious all of a sudden. “The kid might be willing to do the long distance thing for a while.”

“He’s a first year, Kuroo,” Morisuke sighed. “Maybe if he was a second year, but two years is too long to ask him to wait. Even if I did like him. Or think he was my soulmate.”

“Why are you so convinced he’s not your soulmate?” Kuroo asked.

“I saw his mark and I don’t think it’s me. Honestly, it looked a lot like Kenma, which I guess makes sense with how much the kid is always hanging all over him.”

Kuroo looked like he was about to respond when the bell rang to send them back to class. Morisuke practically ran away from Kuroo, wanting to get away from this conversation. He missed the appraising look Kuroo sent his way.

Morisuke did his best to ignore Lev at practice, bouncing excitedly around Kenma asking for tosses. He looked up when he noticed Morisuke, grinning and bounding over.

“Yaku-san! I’m getting better at receives, aren’t I?” he asked happily. Morisuke blinked for a minute before replying,

“You’re better than you used to be.”

“Yes! So soon you must all accept me as the ace!” Lev proclaimed loudly, promptly being beaten down by both Morisuke and Yamamoto. Morisuke couldn’t figure out why Lev had asked about his receives, when he considered spiking the most important thing to being the ace.

_Was he looking for praise? From me? But why?_

“Yaku-san, are we staying to practice receives again?” Lev asked after practice. Morisuke rolled his eyes even though he really didn’t mind staying late with Lev. Teaching him helped Morisuke remember his fundamentals as well.

“Of course, you still suck at receives. Just let me grab something from my bag.”

He walked into the club room, and Kenma was there, obviously waiting for someone.

“Did Kuroo not leave yet?” Morisuke asked, assuming Kenma was waiting for Kuroo to walk home since they were neighbors and Kuroo walked with Kenma to keep him from running into things while playing on his phone.

“No. Well, he’s waiting for me. He told me to talk to you,” Kenma replied. To anyone else, he would have sounded bored, but Morisuke could hear the undercurrent of concern in his voice.

“What’s up?” Morisuke asked. He wondered if Kuroo had told Kenma about Morisuke thinking Lev was Kenma’s soulmate.

_It’s better this way._

“Well…Kuroo said you think Lev and I are soulmates,” Kenma said slowly. Morisuke nodded.

“He has a cat on his wrist that looks like you,” Morisuke said. “And you usually let him hang all over him. You’re not usually that comfortable with other people. It seemed pretty intuitive.”

“Have you ever seen my soulmate mark, Yaku?” Kenma asked. Morisuke shook his head.

“I used to think you might not have one, until I noticed Lev’s mark could fit you. I thought you might be aromantic-asexual.” Kenma looked mildly amused.

“I’m actually grey-ace and grey-romantic, but my mark’s just well hidden,” Kenma said with gentle amusement. He pulled down the top of his sweatpants on his left hip. Morisuke cocked his head in curiosity. Kenma had a small black cat with spiky hair on his hip.

“Oh. That looks like Kuroo,” Morisuke mused.

“We’ve known since we were kids,” Kenma said. “He has a matching mark on his right hip that looks like me.”

Morisuke was frozen. Kenma was matched with Kuroo. They’d known forever. Lev wasn’t Kenma’s soulmate.

“And I know you thought his mark looked like me, but I’ve seen his mark too, and I think it looks a lot like you,” Kenma said gently. He was starting to look a little uncomfortable, but Morisuke was too busy feeling his world collapse around him to notice.

“I…I’ve got to go,” he stuttered, grabbing his bag and sprinting out of the room. He didn’t stop running until he got home, ignoring the fact for now that he’d left Lev at the gym expecting to practice receives.

Morisuke reacted in the only way he could to save his sanity: he went into denial. Just because Lev couldn’t be matched with Kenma didn’t mean he was matched with Morisuke. The world was a big place, he didn’t have to find his soulmate on his volleyball team, much less in an obnoxious first year that was way too tall and way too loud. Way too young.

An obnoxious, tall, long legged, loud mouthed, determined, resilient, beautiful first year.

None of this, of course, could explain why Morisuke stayed home from school the next day. He told his mother that he was sick, and truthfully, with all the thoughts bouncing around in his head, he had a headache that made him feel sick. He drifted in and out of sleep, staying in his bed, and woke up most of the way in the afternoon. Curled up on his left side, facing the wall, he heard the door behind him swing open slowly.

“I told you I didn’t want any soup, Mom, just let me sleep,” Morisuke mumbled pitifully. He didn’t usually sound this pitiful, even when he really was sick.

“Yaku-san?” a voice asked hesitantly. Morisuke froze. “Kuroo-san said I should come talk to you, but I can leave if you’re feeling too sick.”

“What do you want, Lev?” Morisuke asked, feeling exhausted.

“Kuroo-san told me that you though me and Kenma-san were soulmates, but Kenma-san told you he was really soulmates with Kuroo-san,” Lev said, still with that note of hesitancy.

“And?”                                                                 

“Well…Kuroo-san said that maybe you and I were soulmates, and that’s why you had to stay home today. Are you upset that I might be your soulmate?”

“You know I graduate soon, right Lev?” Morisuke asked. “Do you really want a soulmate that will be gone in a few months? You’re only a first year, you have a lot of high school left; do you really want to be tied to someone who will be somewhere else for two years at least?”

Morisuke was curled into the tiniest ball he could be, which was very small considering how short he was. So when Lev hugged him from behind and wrapped around him, he completely enveloped Morisuke. Morisuke was frozen, unable to move even as Lev teased his right arm away from him to lay their wrists together.

“Oh,” Morisuke breathed. The light colored cat with piercing eyes somehow fit perfectly with the lion. They were far from the same, and yet their coloring, their art style, everything about them seemed to fit together.

Tears started streaming down Morisuke’s face. He was so surprised that he gasped a sob.

“Shh, it’s okay, don’t cry,” Lev whispered, hugging him tighter. Morisuke rolled over, buried his face in Lev’s chest, and cried harder as Lev curled around him.

He finally calmed down after crying so hard his throat started to hurt, and just let Lev hold him, running a hand up and down his back soothingly.

“I still graduate in a few months,” Morisuke finally spoke. “And I’m looking at universities all over the country. I probably won’t stay very close.”

“Then you’ll have to promise to call me all the time, and email me, and we can video chat,” Lev said, just as quietly. Morisuke hadn’t known Lev had it in him to be quiet. “University is only four years. Besides, we can visit each other sometimes.”

“Are you sure you want that?” Morisuke asked.

“I want to be with you, Yaku-san,” Lev said solemnly. Morisuke chuckled.

“You know, if we’re soulmates and dating, you should probably call me by my first name,” Morisuke pointed out.

“Okay. Mori-kun,” Lev said easily, but Morisuke’s face burst into flames because _damn_ he hadn’t been quite ready for that. “Does that mean we’re dating now?”

“If you want us to be,” Morisuke nodded. Lev stared at him for a minute, big green cat’s eyes into his own, before leaning forward to press a kiss to his forehead. If possible, Morisuke flushed even redder.

“That’s going to take some getting used to,” Morisuke grumbled. Lev laughed.

“It’s a good thing you’re so small,” Lev said. “I can hold you much easier this way.”

Morisuke was about to retort, and possibly kick Lev out of the bed, but he rolled his eyes, tucked his head under Lev’s chin, and decided to let it slide. After all, it did feel nice to be cuddled like this.

Kuroo, of course, couldn’t resist teasing them when they walked into practice the next day holding hands, much to Morisuke’s embarrassment.

“I knew you had a crush on him.”

“Shut up, Kuroo, we could have avoided most of this if you had just told us you and Kenma were together,” Morisuke shot back.

“Kenma doesn’t like public displays of affection,” Kuroo replied. “And he doesn’t like having all the attention on him. I don’t really feel the need to flaunt it to the world. If someone needs to know, they will. And now you know.”

“Kenma said you have a matching mark to his on your hip,” Morisuke asked. Kuroo chuckled.

“And you’re curious, aren’t you.”

“A little.”

Kuroo pulled the band of his shorts down his right hip a little to reveal a cat with yellow and black fur and sharp eyes. It looked exactly like Kenma. Now that Morisuke knew, he was a little surprised that he’d mistaken Lev’s mark for Kenma. Now that he knew, it looked just like him.

“Lev, time for receive practice!” he called.

“Mori-kun, can’t you let me off the hook for today?” Lev begged. “It’s much harder to get down to the ground to receive when I’m not as short as you.”

Once Morisuke was done blushing from being called his first name, he was moving, kicking Lev in the back of the knees.

“What, do you think you’re special because we’re dating now?” he shouted. “Your receives are still the worst on the team. Do you think you can be the ace when you still suck this bad? Get in position!”

Lev whined, but followed Morisuke’s command, preparing to practice receives. It looked like some things would never change.

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr: [@musicprincess655](http://musicprincess655.tumblr.com/)  
> Evanings: [@evanings](http://moustachemoustachemoustache.tumblr.com/)  
> If any of you artists want to do fanart, PLEASE FEEL FREE and also either tag me or send it to me


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